Book Review: Leaving Time

I've just finished reading Jodi Picoult's new book Leaving Time. There's no spoilers below, just FYI. 

Alice Metcalf was an accomplished scientist, studying grief among elephants. She was a wife to Thomas, and a mother to Jenna. When Jenna was three, she disappeared from hospital after a keeper at the elephant sanctuary she and Thomas ran was killed under suspicious circumstances.

Ten years later, Thomas is in a psychiatric hospital, having suffered a complete mental breakdown after the events of that night. Jenna, now 13 and raised by her maternal grandmother, decides to go looking for answers about what happened to her mother. Did Alice really leave her behind? Did she not have a choice? Or is she dead?

Jenna invokes the help of two people for her search- Virgil Stanhope, one of the original detectives on her mother's case a decade prior; and Serenity Jones, a psychic.

From the beginning, I was intrigued by the story, mostly because of the elephant aspect. Elephants are my mother's favourite animal (well, elephants, wombats and turtles), so I've always been interested in them. And one of my favourite things about Jodi's books, is that I always learn something. The amount of research she puts in is incredible.

It admittedly took me a few chapters to place Serenity, she was a character in a short story Jodi released earlier this year through Kindle, When there's smoke, which I thoroughly enjoyed; so I was very pleased to see Serenity again in this instance. I love when characters from past books appear, and you get a little insight to where they are now. It's like catching up with an old friend.

You don't have to have read When there's smoke before reading Leaving Time, Serenity's background is recapped adequately, but I recommend reading it first anyway. It's a short story people, it won't take long.

The elephants aside, it took me a while to warm to Alice's story- which is stories of her studies on elephants in Africa leading up to the events of her disappearance and what actually happened that night. I found the stories fascinating, but I was much more engaged in Jenna's story and her search for Alice and working with Virgil and Serenity to learn the truth.

And then the story took a twist that I did not see coming.

There was a moment when Virgil and Serenity first appeared in the story, and I thought I had picked what was going to happen; and then something happened that made me change my mind. (I can't say what without giving away spoilers, so this may sound confusing. Just read the book, ok?)

Well, it turns out I was kind of on the right track- but not to the extent of what turn the plot took. Despite my earlier thoughts, I was caught totally by surprise and left gaping at the pages.

If you are a psychic sceptic, completely against the idea, you're not going to like Leaving Time. If you believe in that kind of thing, or are at least willing to suspend your disbelief long enough to read 398 pages, I recommend it.

If you like elephants, I really recommend this book, although it has some very sad stories in it about elephants and grief.

More than anything, Leaving Time is really about the relationship between a mother and her child.

Book Review: Fangirl

As a fanfiction reader (since 2007), writer (unofficially since 2003, officially since 2005, publishing since 2008- but that’s a whole other story) and just general fan of fanfiction, I was intrigued by the idea of a novel that features fanfiction predominantly.

Fanfiction isn’t something that is really seen in pop culture, unless it’s to single out “nerdy” characters or to mock those who write it (this is sometimes done with more affection than others). Futurama, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and Supernatural are just some shows that have mentioned fanfiction.

Most people still don’t know what it is. Or if they do, they think it’s either 50 Shades of Grey- type stuff (which even if I don’t read it, I know there’s a lot of it out there); or crap written by 12-13 year olds (again, there is a lot of that out there. A lot. It's true. I look back at my early stuff and shudder. Shudder, I tell you.) Or, for some reason, if people are aware of fanfiction, it’s always the slash pairings they’re aware of. Or maybe that's just the people I meet... 

So I was really intrigued and excited about the concept of Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell. Where the main character is an 18 year old girl starting college who writes fanfiction for the immensely popular and pop culture phenomenon, Simon Snow series (which is a Harry Potter type series. Another reason this book caught my interest).

Let me just start by saying, I have related to many fictional characters in my time. Anne Shirley, Jo March, Beth March (yes, both March girls. And sometimes Meg. But never Amy), Hermione Granger, Elphaba Thropp are the foremost.

And now, there’s Cather Avery.

Yep, Cather. And her twin sister Wren (Cather-Wren, Catherine. Get it? There’s a story behind that. You’ll have to read the book to find that out!)

She’s an 18 year old girl, starting college and moving away from home for the first time. She’s obsessed with Simon Snow and has been for years; and for the first few weeks she lives off protein bars and peanut butter she’s stashed in her room because she’s too afraid to ask where the dining hall is and how it works.

This is so me (although Simon Snow is Harry Potter and Delta Goodrem- and now Wicked. And I didn’t live out of home until I started teaching. And my stashed food would be nutella and protein bars. But I have been known to do ridiculous things to avoid new situations and what I deem are stupid questions. My last school, it took me a month to get up the courage to ask where the staff toilets were).

The other difference is that Cath’s main pairing that she ships is Simon and his roommate/nemesis Baz, whereas I don’t write or read slash fic. But the point is, I get this girl. 

Wren has decided to enjoy college life, doesn’t seem as into the Simon Snow fandom anymore and doesn’t want to share a room with her twin- for the first time in their lives. I don’t have a twin, but I get the feeling of sibling rejection. Or just rejection, really.

sob

The world is eagerly awaiting the eighth and final Simon Snow book to be released, which brought back all the feels from the time we spent waiting for Deathly Hallows to be released in 2007. To this day, I don’t know if I’ve ever dreaded and simultaneously wanted something so badly in my life… except maybe when we were waiting for Deathly Hallows Part 2 to come out in cinemas.

Cath has been working and posting her version of the final book, Carry On, for two years and is determined to finish before the actual book is released.

She is really excited to take a Fiction writing class at college, from a real author… only to discover her teacher doesn’t like fanfiction.

The novel focuses on Cath’s journey through her first year of college, between classes, boys, friends and family issues. She really finds herself and learns to stand on her own feet throughout the novel, which is really great to see. Cath comes a long way, in a much shorter time than it took me.

In between the chapters are excerpts from the Simon Snow books, and Cath’s own fanfiction.

If I had one criticism about Fangirl, it’s that the fanfiction is excellent. Really, really good. Aside from the subtext of romance in Cath’s fanfics between Simon and Baz, it’s hard to separate canon from non-canon. And whilst there is some well-written, very well-written and amazingly well-written fanfiction out there; my experience with fanfiction (especially in a big fandom like “Simon Snow”, or Harry Potter) the majority is not that amazing. Or maybe that’s just on Fanfiction.net. 

Even if something has a lot of reviews and people following it, doesn't necessarily mean it's well-written. God, I sound like a snob. Sorry, I don't mean to. If I could find that much fanfiction of that high quality, I would be a very happy girl. And just to be clear, I place my own works at the “well-written, sometimes parts very-well written” level.

So that’s my biggest criticism of Fangirl. The fanfiction is too good. Which tells you that this is an excellent book.

Of course, it’s not a book without a love interest; and for a brief moment it looks like Cath will get two. Levi is her roommate’s charming boyfriend. Nick is a guy in her writing class she works with. You will be very happy with her choice. Or I was, at any rate.

And my list of fictional guys (to compare) is Gilbert Blythe, Harry Potter, Fiyero Tiggular and Ted Mosby (yes, I would be the mother. Gladly. I’m a sucker for a romantic guy, ok?). Oh, and Mr Darcy. Because he’s Mr Darcy (although I have a soft spot for Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility).

Whether or not you’re a fanfiction fan, Fangirl is a great book. If you’re not that familiar with fanfiction, it may give you a better understanding of what it is and how it works (or just a understanding of it). If you are a reader/writer of fanfiction, definitely give it a shot!

Book review: The Storyteller

The first Jodi Picoult book I ever read was The Pact. I was in Year 10, and my English class was studying John Marsden’s Letters from the Inside. My teacher, knowing how much I enjoyed reading, asked if I had read it before. I had, and had also studied it at my previous school the year before. She didn’t really see the point in me studying a book I’d read and studied before, so she said she’d give me something else to read. And she handed me The Pact.

I was hooked. It was gripping, full of great characters, plot twists and it was well written. I cried whilst reading it and it stayed with me for days after. Then I read any others I could get my hands on, starting with My Sisters’ Keeper, which had the same effect on me.

I’ve read all of her books, and enjoyed the vast majority, but her latest, The Storyteller, is the first to have the same impact on me that The Pact and My Sisters’ Keeper did. I’m talking about that complete inability to stop reading until you’ve finished, and when you get to the end, you need a moment to stop and recover.

The Storyteller is incredibly gripping, full of surprises and filled with characters I’m rather hoping Picoult finds a way to slip into future books- like Leo Stein, an attorney for the Justice Department. I cried, there were times I gasped aloud and felt sick, and quite honestly forgot I was reading a fictional story.

The novel, Picoult’s 20^th, is the story of Sage Singer a recluse, loner baker who pretty much hides away from the rest of the world. Through a grief counselling group where she comes to try and come to terms with the death of her mother three years ago, she meets and befriends an elderly man beloved by the town as retired German teacher and little League coach, Josef Weber.

The main plot of the story kicks off when Josef comes to Sage with a request- to help him die. Sage is appropriately horrified and questions the matter. This isn’t a case of an old man being terminally ill and wanting to end his suffering- Josef is quite healthy. But he tells Sage that she needs to kill him, because he deserves death.  The story then switches between Sage and Josef’s perspectives as Josef tells her his tale, of being an SS soldier in Nazi Germany during WWII. Believe me that this is giving nothing away from the story.  Oh, one small detail I didn’t mention- Sage, despite her lack of faith, is of Jewish heritage.

The Holocaust is one area of history that has always captivated me, and as a result, I tend to devour most literature and movies that are set in that time period. I’m not really sure why it grabs me so... maybe it’s because no matter how much I read on the subject, I am still unable to comprehend the ability to commit genocide and lead six and a half million people to their deaths. Maybe it’s because I read The Diary of Anne Frank at 13 (the same age Anne was when she went into hiding), and still relate to her and mourn her. I’ve been to the Jewish Museum in Sydney twice and have met and heard the stories of three Holocaust survivors in reality and seen and heard the stories in many documentaries.

This is the part of the book that drew me in most, kept me frantically turning pages and refusing to put the book down, and that made me cry and hurt most. It also horrified me the most.  Picoult has clearly done her research on this subject, as she does every other subject she writes about.

And as many of her books do, it raises incredible moral and ethical questions, as asked by the back of the book itself:

“What do you do when evil lives next door? Can someone who’s committed horrendous acts ever truly redeem themselves? Is forgiveness yours to offer if you aren’t the person who was wronged?”

As Sage, and the reader, tries to understand these questions and Sage and Leo Stein, the aforementioned Justice Department attorney try and investigate Josef’s claims; the story is interwoven with a fictional tale full of mythical creatures, which become more and more significant on several levels as the book progresses.

And something else to note about The Storyteller- it will make you hungry. Seriously. Several characters are bakers and in the less horrifying (but in a good way) parts of the story, you will want nothing more than baked goods. For me, it was all about visions of fresh bread with nutella (not because that was specifically mentioned, nutella is just my first preference for everything) but there are many delicious sounding treats throughout the book.

This is my favourite Jodi Picoult book, maybe since Nineteen Minutes. I definitely recommend this book to everyone, especially those who are interested in history. If you have personal experience with the Holocaust, you might find some parts distressing, just a word of caution.

Anyway- READ THIS BOOK!